


No Good Deed

by nereidee (aurasama)



Series: Frictional October 2018 challenge [5]
Category: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-08-01 02:59:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16276538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurasama/pseuds/nereidee
Summary: Wilhelm has known all along that every sin comes with a steep price - and he has a hell to pay. Pre-game.Written for the Frictional October challenge on Tumblr, based on the prompt 'secret'.





	No Good Deed

The baron is his usual friendly self as he leads them downstairs to the wine cellar and Wilhelm joins the banter, slipping into the role though his heart is not in it tonight. The muscles on his face feel stiff from disuse but no one notices, his men too entertained by the thought of wine and festivities to care. The quips that escape his mouth seem to amuse Alexander and he laughs politely, ever the good host, and when he ushers them to sit down and suggests a toast, Wilhelm and the others offer no protests.  
  
A soldier asks no questions, and Wilhelm has always been a professional through and through.  
  
He can feel it, the dark pit opening at his feet, but he downs his goblet once, then again, and again. Alexander is speaking; Wilhelm is only barely registering the words, but the others respond eagerly to his flattery of their deeds. An honour, he says. Let no good deed go unpaid nor no good man unrewarded. Wilhelm smiles at the baron, inclining his head as he lifts his goblet to a toast and the others copy him. _To baron Alexander, the most generous of masters._  
  
Such obedient dogs, the lot of them.  
  
The wine is sweet on his tongue and Wilhelm savours every second, wishing it would wash away the guilt that has been growing in his gut over these past years, but it only seems to grow, grow with each drop, and he knows he deserves it. He's been hiding from it for too long. Every drop that is offered to him has been earned, and when the baron refills his goblet he downs it in one.  
  
The others don't notice when the baron slips away, but Wilhelm does. The man's face is a mask that reveals nothing and when he gets up his eyes lock with Wilhelm's for one moment too long. His smile does not falter – if anything Alexander smiles all the warmer – but his eyes are hollow and cold, just like they have always been, and Wilhelm knows in that moment that this is the last time they meet. His eyes follow the man as he vanishes up the stairs and is swallowed by the darkness, and when he hears the faintest click from the door, he simply turns his head away and reaches for another bottle.  
  
If he wanted to escape, he should have done so long ago. It's not like he never had a choice. The room seems to shift, going in and out of focus, and Wilhelm shuts his eyes. He should have declined right when the baron made his proposal all those years ago. Someone screams and the noise is followed by the sound of shattering glass.  
  
His guts burn as if the wine had been molten iron, corroding its way out of him. One of his men out of his chair, tears and blood streaming for his eyes. Another is lying on the floor and claws at his front, legs kicking the air erratically. His screams of pain are cut off abruptly as his body convulses violently, limbs drawn towards the torso at unnatural angles like a praying mantis; the sound of breaking bone is like a gunshot and the last Wilhelm sees of him is broken bone jutting out of the man's forearm.  
  
Someone curses, yelling Alexander's name, until his voice, too, is cut off by the sound of splintering flesh and bone. Wilhelm leans back in his seat, closing his eyes as the burning spreads into his limbs and tightens around his throat.  
  
_So this is repentance._ Blood trickles down into Wilhelm's goblet as he brings it to his lips once more.


End file.
